That's why I always say don't feed live foods. a majority of Betta diseases (Like dropsy, which your girls have) Are caused by the feeding of live foods. I'm so sorry about your girls, if you decide to try to rebuild a sorority IMO you shouldn't feed live food.

.... Baylee, please don't point fingers when you have no idead what the heck I'm doing to keep my bettas. I don't feed live foods, and if I did, I'd have my own stock of live food several generations in before feeding so I know there are no parasites. I was feeding frozen, pellets and flakes (all pre-soaked)

I don't mean to snap, but your post seems to have rubbed me the wrong way, because in my eyes, your post makes you sound like you think you know everything about what I'm doing for my fish, and that you know exactly what happened to them, why, and how to have fixed them better than me

Maybe one of your girls had some hidden infection/disease and it just decided to pop up. The problem with having them all together is that if one gets sick, they ALL get sick... just like in a household. If one person has the stomach flu, everyone else is probably going to get it. ... I hate the stomach flu. Blegh.

I always worry about random illnesses with my girls, which is why I always quarantine new bettas for at least 2 weeks before I add them to the sorority. I also always look for even subtle changes in behavior. That might be the "i'm not feeling so well" sign, and probably the queue to remove her for a little while, and do a water change on the tank. Maybe it's just because I'm a hypochondriac but that's what I watch for in my tank lol... Hope this helps a little! I really hope they pull through and I'm looking forward to an update!

I honestly don't know. I adopted them from 1fish2fish, they were from her sorority, which she disbanded due to illness, by the time she shipped them to me, they'd already been quarantined by her for a month and they were sickness free and healing. Maybe the stress of shipping and a something else lowered their immune systems. :p

I'm treating Phoebe and Jaffa for what they have (velvet) with 50 % w/cs with 2 tsps of epsom salt per gallon, and I've got the tank covered and lights out so the velvet will have a hard time growing and reproducing in the dim lighting. Hopefully they'll get better so when I go to pick up medicines to stock my fish first aid kit, the meeds will be just in case something like this happens again

That's why I always say don't feed live foods. a majority of Betta diseases (Like dropsy, which your girls have) Are caused by the feeding of live foods. I'm so sorry about your girls, if you decide to try to rebuild a sorority IMO you shouldn't feed live food.

I feed massive amount of live foods that I gather from oak leaf filled rain barrels every spring, summer and early fall without illness to not just my adult Bettas but to my Betta fry and other species of fish and fry as well...some of the critters I gather and feed I have no idea what they are and have yet to lose one fish related to feeding live native foods I gather and have been feeding for at least 5 years if not longer...proper care does need to be made however, with not just live foods-but freeze dried foods, expired processed foods, spoiled frozen foods...sometimes- live foods can carry pathogens/parasites but not always-healthy fish with strong immune systems along with proper husbandry practiced-even in a closed system- feeding live foods can be safe and beneficial to their overall well being in my experience.......

Sorry about your girls JK-sometimes no matter what you do these things can happen regardless of what you do or don't do.......sometimes the stress alone from shipping can break down the immune response and any small pathogen can take advantage before your eyes.......stuff happens......we can only do our best and you did that......again sorry for your loss.....hope the other girls start to perk up for you soon.....